


Cop Car

by thismidnight



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-17 00:26:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1367212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thismidnight/pseuds/thismidnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katniss and Peeta spend the night locked in the back of a police car together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cop Car

I might not know much about Katniss Everdeen, but I know I never thought I'd end up handcuffed and in the back of a cop car with her.

I've done this plenty of times. There's a small clearing outside a wooded area near the airport that I come to all the time if I've had a particularly rough day at the bakery and need to clear my head. I'm not too fond of the outdoors, but something about this location is exceptionally calming. Maybe it's just that I like sitting and looking at the airport as the sun sets, watching the twinkling blue and green lights that line the runways flicker to life against the burnt orange and red of the evening sky. Maybe it's the way the cool, evening air feels on my skin that's usually flushed and hot after spending all day in the bakery. Whatever it is that draws me to this place, I couldn't tell you. I just know that I come here every so often to clear my head an watch the planes come and go into the sunset.

It's why, tonight, when Katniss surprised me by showed up at the bakery as I was closing shop and asked me to take her somewhere, anywhere, and not ask questions, I knew exactly where to take her.

It's why, when she pointed out the faded, rusty no trespassing sign hanging on a chain link fence surrounding the trees, I assured her we were fine as I sped right past it.

It's why, when the police cruiser rolled up, blue and red lights angrily flashing against the night sky - when and how it became night I'll never understand - I couldn't believe my luck.

But, here we are. Wedged in the back of a police cruiser together. And, to tell you the truth, despite the fact that we could possibly end up in jail, getting to spend the night with Katniss has been great. Close to perfect, even.

She sits to my left, her hands handcuffed together in her lap in front of her, craning her neck back to look out the window for the officers who stand somewhere outside the car. I feel horrible. I didn't ask questions like she requested when she showed up at the bakery, but I'm sure her day must have been rough if she just wanted to go somewhere, no questions asked. And now I've gotten her... well, not arrested. Not yet, anyway. Knowing my luck, that'll be what's coming after the officers finish deciding what they're going to do with us.

"Maybe we could run for it."

Her comment draws me out of my own thoughts. "What?" I ask in disbelief. Surely I misheard her.

She nods, turning her gaze away from the window to look at me, her grey eyes glimmering mischievously. "We could run for it. The cops are way back by your car. We could just disappear into the trees and be gone. I used to go hunting with my dad; I know how to cover my tracks. They'd never find us." She laughs a little, "they'd never  _catch_  us. They look like they'd be out of breath before they could even make it to the treeline."

As much as I try to fight it, I feel my lips start to curl into a smile and I shake my head, "I think that'd only make things worse. We're not under arrest for anything."  _Not yet, anyway_ , I think to myself.

"Exactly! We're not under arrest for  _anything_. So, technically, we could just get right out of this car and walk away. We wouldn't even have to run." Her eyes still have that sparkle in them that makes me realize she's only half joking.

"Katniss, as much as I would love to run away into the woods with you, I think at that point we'd be in trouble for... I don't know, resisting arrest or something. And we would  _definitely_  be going to jail. I think I have to say no to this suggestion." 

She sighs and leans her head back against the seat, moving her hands so the hard steel of the handcuffs adjusts around her wrists, and I look down at my matching pair. I still don't know why these things were necessary for us. "You're right, I guess. It would have made a great story, though."

My smile grows even wider as I shake my head again, still looking down at my hands. "You're crazy."

After a few moments of silence, I hear her handcuffs clinking together from next to me, and I look up in time to see her tugging on the handle of the door. When it doesn't give, she sighs again, defeated.

"Looks like your life on the run has been thwarted by some child locks." I tease, and she looks over at me and rolls her eyes.

We sit in silence for a few minutes before she takes to watching the officers again and I take to watching her, trying my best to figure her out. I don't really know much about Katniss Everdeen yet, even though we're currently sitting in the back of a police car together, so I start listing all the things I know about her in my head to pass the time. I know what she orders when she comes into my bakery every morning -- a cheese bun and a cup of hot tea, always to go. I know she's not much of a conversationalist -- it took weeks to finally get to the point where I felt like she  _actually_  wanted to talk to me in the mornings while I prepared her tea, always with a little bit of sugar and lemon. I know she hasn't lived here very long -- one morning right after she first started coming to the bakery I asked why I had never seen her around before, and she told me she had moved for work. I know that I love when she wears her dark hair loose around her shoulders, instead of in her usual messy braid. I know that sometimes -- most of the time, actually -- seeing her come through the door of my bakery is the best part of my day. I know that something about her draws me to her, makes me enjoy being around her, makes me just want to  _be_  with her, ever since that first day she showed up in my bakery; asking me what I recommended she take with her for breakfast.

"Oh, he's coming!" 

Again, her words draw me out of my thoughts, and I crane my neck to see one of the officers making his way back towards the cruiser. I prepare myself for what I know is coming.  _Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen, you're both under arrest for trespassing. You have the right to remain silent..._

The officer pulls open the passenger door of the car and glances back at us, keeping silent, before beginning to root around in the front seat for something.

From my left I hear Katniss clear her throat and begin to speak. "Excuse me, officer?" That mischievous glint has reappeared in her eyes, and this time I notice it's magnified by the blue lights that continue to flash on top of the cruiser. I brace myself for whatever she's about to say.

The officer looks up at her expectantly, waiting for her question, and she begins to speak, "Do you have a lighter?"

I might not know much about Katniss Everdeen, but I know she's not a smoker; and before I can stop myself, a deep laugh bubbles up from within me. I had no idea she was this cheeky, and part of me feels like this isn't what she's normally like. I guess the handcuffs make her feisty.

She smiles sweetly at the officer, whose face has flushed red with anger. He doesn't respond to her, and instead snatches the two way radio he must have been looking for out from where it had fallen wedged in the seats, slams the door of the cruiser back closed, and Katniss begins to laugh with me.

After a few seconds, when our laughter has died down, she swings her hands over and swats my arm with them as best as she can in our close quarters with her hands bound together. "Peeta, you weren't supposed to laugh!"

"You should have warned me, then, because that is the  _last_  thing I was expecting you to say."

She shrugs and looks at me, really looks at me, like she can see my every thought and desire, and I feel my breath catch in my chest. "Maybe there's a lot you wouldn't expect about me." 

I swallow hard and meet her gaze; I feel my heart begin to pound in my chest and I laugh nervously. "Oh yeah? Like what? Surprise me."

She smirks like she's been waiting for the opportunity to tell me whatever she's going to tell me. "I hate lemon in my tea."

"What?!" I exclaim incredulously, and she nods. From the look on her face I can tell she must enjoy giving me a hard time. It'd be frustrating if part of me didn't enjoy it. "I've been putting lemon in your tea for a year and you just let me carry on and do it even though you hate it? Why wouldn't you just say something?"

She shrugs and her face falls slightly. Maybe I was wrong about her enjoying this. She's quiet for a moment before she looks down at her hands. "After so long... I didn't want to upset you," she admits softly.

"Katniss, that wouldn't upset me. Why would it upset me?" I ask her gently. Her braid has fallen over her shoulder and hangs obscuring her face. She has to know there's no way she could upset me, especially over something as insignificant as what she likes in her tea.

She shrugs again and looks up at me, "I don't know. It wouldn't, I guess. I just didn't have the heart to tell you I didn't like it."

I release a puff of air through my nose and lean back against the uncomfortable seat, scowling. Now I am upset, but not for any reason she could have imagined, but because now that's one less thing I actually know about Katniss.

"See!" She exclaims, pointing at me with both of her hands, "you are upset! I knew it! This is why I didn't say anything."

I roll my eyes and then look at her, sitting turned my direction and looking at me expectantly. She has no idea. "I'm not upset."

And just like that, her smirk is back. "You're a terrible liar."

She's right. I am a terrible liar. She probably knows more about me at this point than I know about her. I ignore her comment. "I have to make up for this now, you know. You've been paying for something you don't like for... what? Almost a year now?"

She shakes her head, and I know what words are going to leave her mouth when she opens it to speak, so I stop her before she even starts, "And don't tell me ' _you don't have to do that_ ' because I'm going to do it anyway." _  
_

She draws her mouth into a line and looks at me. If she could cross her arms, I'm sure she would. "And just exactly how do you plan on making it up to me? A year's worth of tea with no lemon? Cheese buns delivered directly to my door?"

If only I could work up the courage to tell her the many ways I would actually  _like_  to make it up to her. Instead, I keep my thoughts to myself, and begin playfully, "oh, so you mean getting you handcuffed and thrown in the back of a cop car doesn't count?"

She drops her head back against the seat and laughs, which makes me smile so wide I feel like my face might split in two. Her laugh might be the best sound in the world.

When she finally stops laughing she looks at me, her eyes sparkling. "No, that doesn't count. And I imagine you also should repay me for this somehow too. I pointed out that sign to you on our way in."

I groan, close my eyes, and now it's my turn to lean my head straight back against the seat, "I know you did. I'm sorry about all this by the way. Did I say I'm sorry?" I loll my head to the side and open my eyes, keeping my head back against the seat.

She's looking back down at her hands again and is anxiously playing with her handcuffs some more. "No, you didn't. But it's okay." she's quiet for a moment before she adds, "this is actually the best night I've had in awhile."

I pull my head up from where it's resting and I've just opened my mouth to speak when the door on my side of the car is pulled open and we both look up at the officer we had upset earlier, startled.

"Out," he commands, and we are quick to obey, shuffling and sliding out of the backseat as efficiently as we can without the full use of our hands.

Once we're both outside of the car the officer studies us silently for a moment, and I glance at Katniss to make sure she isn't going to make a run for it, but she's standing next to me and looking down at the ground. She's not going anywhere.

Finally, after what feels like a lifetime, the officer speaks. "Hands," he says, gruffly. Katniss looks up suddenly, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open, "you mean we're not under arrest?" she manages to ask.

I hold up my hands first -- shock still has Katniss frozen in place -- and the officer releases me from my cuffs. I immediately begin rubbing my wrists where the metal had been rubbing on my skin. Those things were more painful than I had realized. "No. We got in touch with the property owner and he didn't want to press charges. It's your lucky day."

Katniss finally manages to shake off her surprise and holds up her hands for the officer to release her from her cuffs, and as soon as her hands are free she immediately crosses her arms over her chest and looks back down to study her feet. I guess it was the handcuffs that made her feisty after all. Now she's acting more like the girl who comes into my bakery every morning.

I decide to speak for both of us so we can get out of here. I look the officer in the eye and begin, "listen, we're really sorry about all this. I didn't see the sign back there. We didn't mean to cause any trouble. I just like to sit out here and look at the airplanes and clear my head; I didn't know this land belonged to anyone."

The officer looks us both over one more time. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again, you both seem like good kids, I'd hate to see you get in any real trouble," he tells us both, the warning apparent in his voice.

I nod enthusiastically, ready to get the hell away from this situation. "Yes, sir." I glance to my left and Katniss has looked up and is nodding with me. I think she's just as ready to put this behind us as I am.

The officer nods once at us. "Okay then. Have a nice evening." He walks around the cruiser Katniss and I had been in -- his backup is long gone, I guess he realized we weren't going to be a threat -- gets in the driver's seat, shuts off the lights, and begins toying with his radio.

And just like that, it's over. We're free to go; no arrests, no jail time. Thank God. I look over at Katniss, who has remained quiet almost the entire time since we were let out of the cruiser and nudge her gently with my shoulder. "You ready to get out of here?" I ask quietly. She nods.

We make our way back to my car and quietly climb in together. I turn the key in the ignition and the engine roars to life, along with the clock on my dashboard and I groan internally at the time. We had been in that backseat for much longer than I thought. 4 AM is going to hit me like a ton of bricks before I even know it.

Before I shift the car into drive, I look over at Katniss, who has leaned her head up against the window and has her eyes closed. "You okay?" I ask, and I feel my eyebrows knit together in concern. 

She nods without opening her eyes and I sigh. I don't know what has caused her to clam up so suddenly but I'd be lying to myself if I said I wasn't concerned. I decide not to press the issue at the moment. "Okay, so I'm going to start making up for the tea now, and I'm going to drive you back home." I tell her firmly, my tone giving her no room to try and fight me on it.

She finally opens her eyes and looks over at me, nodding graciously again, the hint of a smile is forming on her lips. "Okay," she says quietly.

I look at my hands and drum my fingers on the steering wheel for a second before I chuckle quietly under my breath. "I don't know where you live," I finally admit. I don't know why I feel so ashamed to  say this. I hardly know anything about the girl who sits in my passenger seat, but spending the night with her in the back of a police car makes me feel like I should know something as simple as where she lives.

 "I know," she says simply, "I'll tell you how to go."

I nod and shift the car into drive before pulling away from my clearing and back to the road that will lead us to town. We're both quiet on the ride back, save for Katniss periodically calling out directions to me. I want so badly to ask her what's wrong, so I can do whatever I can to help make it better, but I don't want to upset her any further, so I bite my tongue and follow her directions until we've pulled up in front of her house. She doesn't live far from the bakery. One more item to add to the list of things I know about Katniss Everdeen.

I shift my car into park and turn to look at her. She hasn't moved to get out yet, and instead sits still and looks straight ahead through the windshield.

"Katniss?" I ask gently, and she turns to look at me. "This is your house, right?" She nods, and I nod in return before she returns her gaze to look out the windshield again. I wish she'd just talk to me like she had been doing so easily in the back of the police cruiser, so I decide to force the conversation a little when she still hasn't made an attempt to get out of the car. "Can I ask you something?" I start tentatively. 

She looks over at me again. This time she almost looks startled that I've spoken to her, and she finally speaks, "of course."

I decide to start with what I think is an easy one that's been slowly burning in the back of my mind all evening. "Why me?" 

The startled look on her face is almost immediately replaced by one of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you come to me at the bakery tonight and ask  _me_ to take you somewhere?" I clarify for her.

"Oh, well..." she sighs. "I haven't exactly been the best at making friends since I've moved here. You're probably the closest thing I have to a real friend. Shocking, right?" And she smiles a sad little smile.

It isn't really shocking, considering how long it took us to fall in the comfortable rhythm we have now in the mornings, but my heart swells at the thought of Katniss considering me a friend. "No, it isn't, but I'm glad you consider me a friend." I tell her with a genuine smile.

"Yeah, me too." and her smile changes to match mine.

We're quiet for another moment before I decide I want to continue the conversation we were having in the cruiser before the officer interrupted us. "Can I ask you one more question?"

She laughs a little, "you don't have to ask me that before you ask me something, you know. But yes, you can."

I feel my heartbeat start to quicken, and I look at my hands where they rest on the steering wheel before forcing myself to look her in the eyes. "Before, when we were in the police car, right before we got let out you said this was the best night you'd had in awhile. What did you mean by that?"

She looks at me in the same way she had in the cruiser earlier, when I felt like she could see right through me, and my heart continues to hammer in my chest. She opens her mouth to speak, pauses slightly to reconsider her words, and then drops her eyes to look at her hands before she begins speaking.

"Would you think I was crazy if I said I was upset when that cop let us go?" She looks up at me anxiously, biting her bottom lip.

"No," I answer her honestly, and I swear I can see tension release from her shoulders. "But why?"

She's quiet again for a long moment before she answers me, "It felt... normal," she shrugs. "Comfortable. Safe. Not being in a police car," she's quick to add, "but just being with you."

I stay quiet and just look at her, asking her to continue with my eyes. When she finally meets my gaze she sighs, and presses on with her explanation. "When I came to you at the bakery tonight and asked you not to ask me any questions, it was because I needed to be somewhere that wasn't... here," she gestures haphazardly towards her house, "because I couldn't be in there alone tonight."

Again she pauses, and sighs deeply, trying to gather her words. "I have nightmares. Bad ones."

And suddenly, somehow, with that confession, everything starts to make sense, but she continues anyway, the words tumbling out of her mouth almost faster than her brain can come up with them, I think. "It's stupid, it's  _so_  stupid, right? That's why I didn't want you to ask questions. It's  _embarrassing._  But I've always had them ever since I was a little girl. They're horrible and so lifelike, and nothing seems to help them, and no one can tell me why I have them. And they've been worse since I've moved here, I guess because I'm still adjusting to everything, I don't know. Anyway, I fell asleep on my couch this afternoon and I had one, worse than I've had in a long time, and I was scared of being in my own house. I had to get out." 

She hangs her head sheepishly and then speaks softly, almost to herself, "I pride myself on being independent and not needing anyone, but tonight I needed to be with someone. I needed something to help me feel-"

"Safe." I finish her thought for her, and she nods gratefully, repeating the word back at me to complete her thought, "safe. And it did. In the back of that police car - of all places - everything was great. I  almost forgot about everything that goes on in my head when I go to sleep at night. When he let us go and I knew I'd have to leave that..." she shrugs and looks at me apologetically, "I'm so sorry to unload all of this on you. You didn't ask for this. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when I came looking for someone to be with."

She never has to be sorry for anything, as far as I'm concerned. I reach over and put my hand on top of hers, rubbing my thumb in slow circles on her skin and she looks at me apprehensively. 

"It's okay." I tell her in a hushed voice. I can hear my blood rushing in my ears, and it's so quiet in the car I'm almost positive she can hear it too. "You don't have anything to apologize to me for. And I wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time, believe me. There's no where else I would have rather been than in the back of that squad car with you tonight."

And before I know what's happening -- before she even know what she's doing, I'm pretty sure -- she's leaned over the center console and she's kissing me, and suddenly nothing else in the world matters but her. Her kiss is apprehensive at first, like she's afraid of how I might react, but I lean into her and deepen the kiss, bringing my hand up to touch the side of her face and pull her in closer. By definition, it's not a very spectacular kiss, but in this moment, it's everything we both need it to be. After a few seconds she pulls away, leaning her forehead against mine and we sit like that for a few moments, neither of us wanting to break the silence or the moment, and I feel my heart continues to race in my chest. 

Finally, I end up caving and pull back to look at her, grinning at the smile that has started to form on her lips. "Well, we'll just have to do this more often, then, I guess."

She gives me a pointed look. "Commit a crime and get thrown in the back of a cop car together?"

I chuckle and shrug my shoulders, "hey, if that's what it takes for you to feel a sense of normalcy, then I'm all for it." She rolls her eyes and I smile even wider, "no, but seriously. Whatever you need, whenever you need. You know where to find me."

"I know," she says, nodding. "Thank you," she whispers.

I nod. "Anytime," I tell her sincerely.

She smiles and finally reaches for the handle of the door and pulls it open. I don't want her to go, but I know she has to. As she steps out of the car I have one last thing to say to her. "Katniss?" I call out, and she turns to look at me expectantly.

"Sleep well tonight, okay? No nightmares."  

 She laughs a little and nods, "I'll try my best. Goodnight, Peeta."

She shuts my car door and I wait until she's entered her house safely to drive away.

\----------------------------------------

As I predicted, 4 AM hits me like a freight train, and I briefly consider calling my brother to ask him to go open the bakery for me, before I begrudgingly decide to just do it myself. I'm on my fourth cup of coffee by the time she comes in, wearing her dark hair loose around her shoulders the way I love it.

She smiles brightly at me, "Morning." 

I match her smile with one of my own, "Morning." 

She stands and watches me as I prepare her order for her, and when I hand her her to go cup of hot tea with no lemon, our fingers brush and she looks at me, still smiling as brightly as when she came in.

"What?" I laugh a little, "You're not usually this happy in the morning."

"I didn't have any last night." she admits. I feel my heart swell and the grin that threatens to break my face in two starts to spread across my face.

"Really?" I ask, and she nods, a small smile playing on her lips. "Wow, that's great. I'm happy."

"Me too." And then, that mischievous sparkle that I've only seen in her eyes once before returns and I love it, the same way I love everything else about her.  "So, what are your plans for later? I'm sure we could go find some more trouble to stir up again tonight."

I might not know much about Katniss Everdeen -- not yet, anyway -- but I know I fell in love with her in the backseat of a cop car.

**Author's Note:**

> Special shout out to rubyfalls for proofreading, hand holding, and moral support through the writing of this. It never would have been finished without her. Also thanks to toilet wine, the cause of and the solution to all of life’s problems. Check me out over on Tumblr, I'm splitscreen over there!


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